First off, I'll preface this thread by saying I LOVE to cook. It's very therapeutic to me and takes my mind off the stresses of daily life. Oh yea, and it's delicious! It's been brought to my attention that too many of us on this site now eat more bland food since coming off CW American diets, and I won't stand for it. Apparently, the males on this site suffer the most.

I can't sit here and let people eat a hunk of meat and steamed vegetables and call that a "meal." What are we? Vegans? We don't have to punish ourselves every time we eat! :)

I love getting creative in the kitchen, and now since I've gone primal, it makes things a little more...challenging, we'll say. I'm using a lot of ingredients now that I've never touched months ago. Coconut flour, almond meal, flax meal, xanthan gum, cream of tartar...and my poor pizza peel and bags of King Arthur flour are gathering dust.

Well, this thread is going to be an outlet for my creativity. Feel free to comment, drool over or criticize the pictures in this thread. I'm an engineer, not an artist, so my presentation isn't very good!

05-07-2011, 08:51 PM

ChocoTaco369

I'll start off this thread with just a few pics I've posted in my [URL="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread25023.html"]journal[/URL]. These are some of my favorites:

I cooked it on parchment paper that was greased with extra virgin olive oil in a 400 degree oven for 17 minutes, then turned the broiler on high and browned it. I placed another tray over it and flipped the pizza crust. Then I proceeded to add my toppings. They were:

I browned the top under the broiler for a few minutes, topped the pizza with fresh cilantro, popped it back under the broiler for about a minute or less and it was done!

Obviously this was nowhere as good as standard wheat pizza made with high gluten flour, but I really wanted pizza so I made a compromise with the coconut flour. This was my first time using coconut flour and, just like everyone said, it's definitely dry and more suitable for cakes or biscuits. I'm hoping there are better (and hopefully cheaper!) alternatives out there.

05-07-2011, 08:56 PM

ChocoTaco369

One of my absolute favorites was my take on Primal Cheesecake. An obviously no-no for the anti-dairy crowd, but that ain't me, baby. The day I give up cheese is the day I die.

This is what I did.
[B](NOTE on stevia: all brands vary sweetness. Before you add any stevia, taste, taste, TASTE! A simple teaspoon of my spoonable stevia is like adding half a cup of sugar it seems. It's very, VERY sweet.)[/B]

Mix and press into the bottom of a well-buttered 9-inch springform pan. I basically melted the half stick of butter in the microwave in a bowl, dipped my hand in, greased the whole sides and bottom of the pan and dumped the rest into the almond meal/stevia mixture. Press in pan. Done.

Bake cheesecake in a 300*F oven for 45 mins. I like to preheat a ceramic dish in the oven to 300 degrees, then when I add the cheesecake into the oven I pour in 1 cup of boiling water to create moisture in the oven for the cheesecake. As soon as the oven beeps after the 45 mins, turn off the oven and walk away. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! Let it cool and come back in 1-2 hours.

Melt 1.5 oz of unsweetened bakers chocolate and 3 tbsp butter in the microwave in a bowl. Microwave for one minute, stir. Then keep microwaving and stirring in 30 second intervals until the chocolate and butter mix smoothly. Add in 4 Tbsp heavy cream and stevia, then stir. Pour overtop cooled cheesecake. Transfer to fridge and let set overnight.

That's it. Pretty simple stuff. I even did a nutrition analysis on Fitday of the entire cake:

A little warning to all that read this: recipes aren't my best friend. If I bake something - which is rarely - I observe proportions. There are no proportions with cooking. I believe in heavy seasoning and tasting everything you make to fine-tune, so if anyone wants recipes from me for cooking, they will be rough.

05-07-2011, 09:04 PM

ChocoTaco369

Dinner from Tuesday. My first attempt at making a "wrap." Okay, it didn't hold together well, but the pic looked nice at least.

I'll post up last night's dinner now. I've been on a 48 hour carb refeed, so the meals are starkly different.

Carb refeeds are poorly understood. There's a lot of starch fear on this site, but starches are one of the best tools we have to break through a plateau. It sends insulin soaring, boosts leptin from the inevitable bottoming-out that happens from prolonged low-carb diets (you can't efficiently release fat with low leptin levels), and the occasional starch helps boost insulin sensitivity. When you go too long without eating starch, I've found your body forgets how to process them. A little starch here and there keeps insulin sensitivity high. Just don't make them a staple.

A big pile of pulled chicken breast slow-cooked in lime juice, cumin and paprika topped with fresh pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and 3 baked yams covered in cinnamon, stevia and cayenne. Add an apple with cinnamon for dessert and you're in business :) Super easy and really good!

I recommend a 48 hour refeed to anyone that's hit the fat loss wall. Keep fat under 30-40g (including supplemental fish or flaxseed oil!) and keep carbs high. I do around 250g on a carb refeed. I'm a 5'7" 24yo active male, so adjust proportionately.

05-07-2011, 09:50 PM

GreenLightJerky

This did not help my current hunger! Off to eat some roast beef! Nice photos Choco!

05-07-2011, 10:04 PM

Saoirse

i'm loving your food porn. btw, your name reminds me of going through the drive-thru as a kid. i would get a choco taco with almost every meal, and i still miss it sometimes.

05-07-2011, 10:37 PM

Pink Grokoddess

[COLOR="magenta"]mmmmm [/COLOR]

05-07-2011, 10:58 PM

Coconut Girl

tony, can we get married so i don't have to think about what to cook anymore :p LMAO ;)

i make really GREAT stuff when i *feel* like it but sometimes i really have to kick myself in the ass to make the kinds of dishes that you've been creating :) it's so easy sometimes and other times feels like such a chore! i have almond flour and coconut flour--i should really start baking again *sigh* i kind of gave it up but once again, you've inspired me to get off of my ass and have fun with food again like i used to!